Police on trail of syndicate targeting telco devices

SHAH ALAM: Police are hot on the heels of a group of thieves stealing telecommunications (telco) cable compartments in Shah Alam as the syndicate had almost paralysed telecommunication services particularly around Shah Alam.
Shah Alam police chief ACP Shafien Mamat said the gang had stolen telco compartments worth more than RM1.7mil over the past year.
"Telco cables had become the target of these thieves as these were made of a mixture of copper and iron. Police got the breakthrough in this case following a tip-off and we arrested two suspects, including an Indian national, aged 37 and 40 on June 2.
"They were nabbed in an unlicensed scrap metal workshop at Bukit Kemuning here at about 12.15pm," he said in a press conference at Shah Alam district police headquarters here today.
Following interrogation of the suspects, police arrested another local aged 27 on Saturday at about 3pm in his residence.
"We also retrieved a substantial amount of telco cables after questioning the suspects," added Shafien.
Among the devices seized by the police were 119 units of Radio Remote Unit (RM12,000 per unit), six units of Micro Radio Frequency Unit (RM12,000 per unit), 26 units of batteries (RM4,000 per unit).
"The thieves are very well prepared, bringing along with them the right equipment and number of people to pull off the job," he said, adding that the telco items which weigh 20kg per unit can be sold cheap at scrap yards.
"The thieves were not aware of the real value of the items they stole," Shafien said.
He added that police are also on the hunt for six more locals believed to be connected with the case.
He did not rule out the involvement of insiders in the theft.
Meanwhile, a telco spokesman who was present at the press conference said the thefts had caused a major disruption of handphone services, affecting hundreds of customers in Shah Alam since the beginning of the year.
"We were inundated with complaints of service disruption. The devices seized by the police are all important for call and mobile data access and once the device is stolen, it paralyses phone coverage for at least a 2km radius," he said.
The case is being investigated under Section 413 of the Penal Code for habitually dealing in stolen property.